MAT 316: A New View of the Universe
11 — 15 April 2005
Old Main 403 Canisius College: 5:00pm — 8:00pm Daily
| Instructor: | Dr. Fred Watson Astronomer-in-Charge Anglo-Australian Observatory Siding Springs New South Wales, Australia fgw@aaocbn.aao.gov.au |
Course Archives
All files below are MS PowerPoint (.ppt). File size as indicated.
- Folklore of the Sky (3.5 Mb)
- Big telescopes for a small world (3.9 Mb)
- In the face of the Sun – planets and transits (3.0 Mb)
- Forging the elements – the Sun and stars (2.2 Mb)
- James Gregory – Scotland’s Isaac Newton (2.5 Mb)
- Industrial strength cosmology (4.3 Mb)
- Cosmic illusions (2.9 Mb)
- RAVEing mad – dissecting our Galaxy (5.9 Mb)
- Astronomers behaving badly (5.2 Mb)
- Tomorrow’s Universe (2.6 Mb)
This course will explore the way in which astronomers piece together their observations to build up a detailed picture of various astrophysical phenomena, from the life cycles of stars to the structure of galaxies and the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe. Optical observations will be highlighted but not to the exclusion of other wavebands, the emphasis being on the way our perception of the Universe is developed from the observations.
Specific Topics and Additional Information for MAT 316:
- Spaceship Earth
- HST and the super-telescope league
- Forging the elements - the birth and death of stars
- The dusty Universe
- Riddles of galactic structure
- Faster than light? - superluminal phenomena
- The biggest lenses in the Universe
- Cosmology and the mystery of the invisible matter
- Are we alone?
Biographical Sketch of Professor Watson: Fred Watson comes from a long line of Freds, but seems to have been the first in the family to become an astronomer. He was born and raised on the outskirts of Bradford in Yorkshire, northern England. He went to school at Belle Vue Grammar School for Boys in Bradford, where he became hooked on astronomy. Fred went to university in Scotland, beginning an academic career that was distinguished only by its longevity. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of St Andrews and later did a masters degree in astronomy there. Later still, in 1987, he gained his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. The other thing that Fred learnt at university was how to look as if you can sing and play the guitar, and for many years he frequented the folk clubs of Scotland and northern England. This trick still comes in handy on Australia’s ABC Radio and at occasions such as “Science in the Pub” (which brings science to pubs [aka bars] in the Australian outback).
Fred’s first job was as an optical physicist with the telescope building firm of Sir Howard Grubb Parsons & Co. Ltd., of Newcastle upon Tyne, now sadly no longer in existence. He also worked at the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux and Cambridge (in the 1070s and 1990s) and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (in the 1970s and 1980s). These jobs took Fred to telescopes in Hawaii and the Canary Islands, as well as to a new life in Australia during the early 1980s. Here, Fred helped to pioneer the use of fibre optics in astronomy at the start of a new era of statistical studies of stars and galaxies. He was responsible for an instrument called FLAIR on the UK Schmidt Telescope, ancestor of the present 6dF system.
In 1995, Fred became Astronomer-In-Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory at Coonabarabran (in central New SouthWales, Australia), which is his present job. His particular scientific interests are in the motions of stars and galaxies, and in the development of new instrumentation for astronomy. He is also interested in dark-sky preservation, global virtual observatories and astronomy education. Fred regards it as an important part of an astronomer’s work to bring the science to as wide a public as possible, so he often finds himself writing and speaking about the Universe and our place in it. He has several regular astronomy segments on ABC radio in Australia.
When time permits, Fred also carries out research into the history of scientific instruments. He is the author of Binoculars, Opera Glasses and Field Glasses published by Shire Books, and was a contributor to the award-winning historical encyclopedia Instruments of Science. His new book Stargazer on the history of the telescope has just been published in Australia by Allen & Unwin, and will be released in the USA in 2005.
In addition to his regular post at the Anglo-Australian Observatory, Fred is an honorary Full Professor of Astronomy at the University of Southern Queensland and an adjunct Professor in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology.
Dr. Fred Watson -- "A New View of the Universe" (MAT 316)
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(left) Fred Watson, Anglo-Australian Observatory, performing the "nitrogen experiment" and showing some FLAIR (below) Fred Watson lecturing the new view of the universe  |
 The Cat's Eye Planetary Nebula (R. Corradi and D. Goncalves) |
 The Anglo-Australian observatory at night |